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Earlier in the day it rained just enough to dampen the ground. No matter the relatively insignificant rainfall, the moisture WAS significant to a female Indian star tortoise. She deemed it nesting time. She had begun coursing the entire enclosure at about the time the 3rd droplet had

fallen. And she continued until an hour later when she had chosen a site that she felt satisfactory. The site chosen was a grassy area between 2 small woody shrubs. She began the nesting process at 1:30 PM and continued preparation through a heavy rain that filled the in-process nest and a temperature drop (from 83F to 65F) until 4:00 PM. Egg deposition and refilling took another hour and a half.

As soon as the female had completed the nesting sequence, Patti redug the cavity with “egg-theft” in mind. In traditional fashion the neck of the nest was long and of small diameter while the egg-site was larger and easily contained the 5 eggs. Interestingly the female, showing more dedication than many do, had not only ignored the temporarily flooded conditions of the nest and the resulting “mudpie” but had encountered and worked around a large horizontal root as well. It took Patti about 15 minutes of careful manipulation to remove the eggs.

The eggs are now in the incubator and I’ll let you know the results in about 3 months. Wish us luck.

The hours of daylight are spent securely hidden, usually in shallow burrows.

It was actually the 3rd of January rather than New Year’s day of 2017 but as they say, that’s close enough for government work—or for mine in fact. Cloudy all morning, a gentle rain began at noon and continued for several hours. The ground and leaf cover were still wet as darkness fell and the moisture containing clouds dissipated. As I often do, I stepped out for a few moment to watch the low-flying bats and to listen for the whistling ducks that fly over every night at about this time.

A little light from the house windows illuminated the driveway where I stood. And as I stood I noticed some small anurans hopping about in the leaf litter. Usually this is where I find southern toads, but for a pleasant change, on the night of the 03 Jan it was eastern spadefoots, Scaphiopus holbrookii, that were active. Now if we can just get enough rain to flood the low-lying section of the yard perhaps they will breed this year. The eerie burping-moans of the lovelorn males is a sure sign of success. C’mon rain!